“The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending His angel to His servant John” (Revelation 1:1 NIV)
The book of Revelation is beautiful because it is centered on Christ, not on the anti-Christ. Not only is it a revelation for the future, but also a revelation for today, so that we live our best every day!
Jesus knows our past and He also holds our future. He is the one who gave the revelation to John the Apostle about what has to and will happen to the world. Jesus does not reveal our future in its entirety simply because we are not yet ready to know all of it. His revelation to us is done according to the measure of our faith.
To increase in grace, Jesus has to be the center of our lives, family, and church. In fact, all of our work, our ministry and our plans have to be bound together with Christ at the center and make Him everything that we are.
Peace that does not begin in grace is peace that is unreal. For example, money can give us a false sense of peace. The true peace can only be achieved when we let God work freely in us. This is the meaning of grace: God works in us!
Revelation comprises of letters for the selected 7 Churches. Why only 7 churches qualify while there are many others in Minor Asia? In every church, the Holy Spirit is present but not all churches allow the Holy Spirit to work freely nor do they solely preach the gospel for Jesus Christ. In fact, many churches start out with worldly intention rather than purely of love. Those that started out with the Spirit, complacently ended up in flesh. For this reason, pray and be vigilant that our church stays unblemished and favored by the Lord until the day He comes.
How do we live our best?
1. Be royal priesthood
Every believer of Christ should be a priest in His Kingdom. Being a priest means being His witness anywhere we are stationed, to be a living and pleasing sacrifice. Each one of us is called to live out the good name of Christ and His kingdom in our community. Let us make our names sweet-smelling to others as we live our days for His glory. And let us strive to please Him being our Lord.
A priest is called to bring an offering. Each of us is able to bring an offering to the Lord. There is none among His people that is found useless in His kingdom! Let us strive to be a solution, not to be a problem, to the world.
Being a priest is not synonymous to being involved in various ministries at church. Our spiritual stand does not even depend on how often we pray; it all begins with a simple, wholehearted decision to seek God and His truth in all things.
2. Remain faithful with our eyes set on the second coming of Lord Jesus.
3. It’s true that faith comes from hearing, but our faith shall have eyes. Every day, our spiritual eyes must be set upon the second coming of Lord Jesus. Live as if today is that day.
4. Let Jesus be the first and the last in every decision you make, and put every aspect of our lives around Him.
5. Avoid self-pity. Referring to the Apostle John, a true Christian does not overly emphasize on ‘personal suffering’ because his heart is not focused on himself. Those who live in grace do not demand others’ sympathy.
Extracted from Philip Mantofa’s Sermon
https://youtu.be/8tiZPlaGybE
https://youtu.be/dgv3T-YSwgo
Jesus knows our past and He also holds our future.
